February 28th, 2017 | 228 Peace Day

It’s a beautiful clear blue sky and sunny day today. A very peaceful day. And the best thing it’s a public holiday. It’s 228 Peace Day in Taiwan.

In 1945, following the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the Allied Forces handed temporary administrative control of Taiwan to the Republic of China (ROC), thus ending 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. Local Taiwanese became resentful of what they saw as high-handed and frequently corrupt conduct on the part of the occupying Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) authorities, their arbitrary seizure of private property, and their economic mismanagement. The flashpoint came on February 27 in Taipei, when a dispute between a cigarette vendor and an officer of the Office of Monopoly triggered civil disorder and an open rebellion that lasted for days. The uprising was violently put down by the military of the Republic of China and the island was placed under martial law which saw the murder of thousands of Taiwanese civilians beginning on February 28, 1947. Estimates of the number of deaths vary from 10,000 to 50,000 or more.The massacre marked the beginning of the White Terror period, in which tens of thousands more Taiwanese went missing, died, or were imprisoned. This incident is one of the most important events in Taiwan’s modern history, and was a critical impetus for the Taiwan independence movement and led to the creation of the first political party called the DPP (Democratic Porgressive Party) that opposed the KMT (the Chinese NAtionalist occupying power). In 2016 the DPP defeated the KMT in nationalwide elections and became the majority govenrment for the first time in 70 years.

However since the end of WWII Taiwan has never been able to get back its independence as an officially recognized sovereign state. Legally it is still under the administration of the allied forces, govenerned by the constitution of the occupying R.O.C. forces. The DPP and other parties hope to rid themselves of the occupying framework of the okd R.O.C government in Exile and restore Taiwan as the Republic of Taiwan.

Unfortunately now Communist China has been trying to bully Taiwan into unifying with them and making false historical claims that Taiwan belongs to China, which it does not. The Chinese claim to Taiwan would be the same as Australia trying to lay claim to New Zealand as it’s own territory. Both have the same languange and similar roots and customs. But they are both seperate countries and people.

Hopefully the new American Trump administration can correct the legal wrongs of WWII and past administrations and tell China to go jump in to the lake and leave Taiwan alone and finally allow Taiwan to have the independent state hood and freedom she and her people deserve.